The Pilgrims are Gathering
by WateryMind
Summary: When a group of everyday teenagers get transported into the world of Final Fantasy, what happens? Chaos and mayhem, thats what! Sorry, not good at this. Original characters, my first story! :D
1. Prologue

Prologue

Falling. Endless, never-ending falling. A thousand questions racing through my mind. Where am I? Am I dead? What was that light? What happened?

Then a stream of light appeared. So I am dead. I moved towards the light, or was it moving towards me? Doesn't matter. It was getting closer all the same. It looked warm and inviting at first, but as it got closer it seemed to become cold, harsh. Then, a flash and everything is blood red. Swilling madness surrounding everything, and at the centre, a hulking mass that changed as I looked at it. As it seemed to stare at me, one name was forced, painfully, into my mind; Chaos. It stared at me, then with a voice of crushed rock and shattered glass. Then, red light, searing pain, then nothing, as His words echoed in my mind.

"You shall be the vessel of Destruction.

"You shall be my pawn."


	2. Chapter 1

Part 1: Descent into Order

Chapter 1: A Fine Welcome... Or not.

First thought: _FUCK my head HURTS!_

Second:_ Was I dreaming?_

Then I noticed that the sun was shining directly on me. I tried to open my eyes. Bad move. I immediately squeezed my eyes shut, having made the mistake of looking at the very bright summer sun.

_Wait. Its winter... So, how is it summer sun? _To add to my mounting confusion, I felt a gentle breeze, and could hear the song of several birds.

And to top it off, there was grass tickling my neck. That was the last straw. I sat up and opened my eyes.

And said: "What. The. FUCK?"

For there I was, standing on the top of a small hill, overlooking a lake, which was a sight upon itself. But what really caught my eye was the distinct, sharp, and just plain awesome castle that sat on the opposite shore.

"Wow. That's... Ah, unexpected," I said to myself, scratching my head. Then, and only then, did I notice my clothes. For one thing, my normal clothes were gone. Replacing them, was a pair of loose fitting blue jeans, the kind that the hero in movies almost always wore, a pair of black combat boots, that came up to just past my ankles. The top half of me was even more confusing (for me, anyway.) A blue shirt, with a black tribal flame pattern taking up half of it, a dark blue combat jacket that reached my knees and...

"A hat?" I asked myself, holding it front of me. It reminded me of a cowboy hat, in size at least. It had a cord coming from it, evidently to go around my neck to stop it from falling (and providing something to choke myself with), and was a dark orange, almost brown. Instead of being flat topped, it was pointed, moving up to a tip about 8 inches above the top of my head.

To top it off, there was a sword hanging off my left hip.

Now, I was REALLY confused. I mean, new clothes, new place, a freaking CASTLE? What could really top all this?

Well, no matter where you are, or how mad you think you are, the universe has a way of making things worse.

Namely, at that moment, I heard a god-awful noise, somewhere between a scream, nails down a chalkboard and my mum bitching at me. I turned (once my ears had stopped ringing) to the source of the noise. And there, standing not 6 feet away, was the ugliest thing I had ever seen. Small, beady eyes, the weirdest clothing I had ever seen, warts all over the place. And a knife, of the sharp variety, pointed right at me. It made that bloody noise again, and I was overcome with the urge to just make it go away.

Then I remembered the sword hanging off my hip.

Slowly, I gripped the hilt of the sword, and pulled it out slowly, as to not accidently lope off a limb. Surprising, it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. Although, it was longer then I thought, being nearly 2 1/2 feet long. Holding the weapon, I realised that 1) I hadn't dropped it yet, and 2) It felt familiar, like a part of my arm. Weird, considering I had never touched a sword before, aside from de-weaponised ones that my friends had.

But then I was brought back from my internal thoughts by that bloody creature stabbing me in the thigh. With a cry of "HOLY FUCK!" I kicked the creature away and checked my wound. It wasn't that bad, not too big, but man, did the fucker piss out blood. Meanwhile, the creature, which I had mentally labelled a goblin, got back up and charged at me.

"Oooooh, you little FUCKER!" I shouted, raising my free hand at the creature in an attempt to punch it, funnelling all my rage at the little cunt. I felt my hand heating up. At first I thought it was just my anger, but then it kept getting hotter and hotter until I thought I would catch on fire, and thus I tried to push it out of me mentally. That's about the point when a fireball came flying out of my hand and smacked the goblin between the eyes, roasting him to cinders in an instant.

"Wow..." I said, staring at the pile of ashes previously known as a goblin. I then realised; _I did THAT._

Well then. Magic. Blue clothes. Weird hat. There wasn't an argument.

I was a Black Mage.

Then, something else occurred to me.

"Where are my friends?"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A little pinch of salt, and hate

"Guys? You there? Mathew? Robbie? Lathen?" I called, cutting my way though a dense patch of forest. Every step I took with my left leg stung to high heaven, not to mention I was leaving a bit of a blood trail.

"Shayna? Amylee? Hell, even Morgan would be good right now..." My voice trailing off, my blood starting to boil as the next name came to my head. I saw red, then a white-red flash, then next thing I knew, there was a nice, charred path through the forest, and wisps of energy rising from my raised hand. Shaking my hand and shaking my head to clear away the mountain of issues, I continued through the forest, sans most of the forest in the way (some of those vines grow bloody fast!)

"Where was I...? Oh yeah... GUYS! WHERE ARE YOU?" I shouted, at the top of my lungs. And, finally, I got a answer. If not the one I wanted.

"HELP! THESE THINGS WON'T STOP COMING!" I heard someone, a girl, shout.

"Teeth on edge. Hand twitching towards weapon. Anger levels rising. Has to be _her_..." I muttered, before running towards the source of the shouting.

Charging into a clearing, I saw a lot of things, but only took in three: My friends in one corner, backs against a rock face. The sheer number of goblins trying to have a go at them. And the three figures standing at the front.

Robbie, blonde hair in a ponytail, wielding a sword that should be impossible for him to lift, let alone use properly.

Mathew, red cloak flowing behind him, stabbing at the nearest goblin with a rapier, his hand glowing a bright blue, evidently magic.

And Shayna, of all people, smacking any poor goblin too stupid to have a go at her with a massive hammer, white travelling cloak covering most of her body, hood down. Her hand was glowing white, every once in a while shooting a white orb at the other two, healing any wounds they got.

All three looked at me at once, with a look that collectively read: _WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG?_

I shrugged in reply, drew my sword, and charged right on it.

Sure, they may be about 5 foot and dumb as rocks, but man, goblins are nasty little things in large numbers. I, very quickly, learnt that randomly slashing doesn't work, as the little bastards opened up a bunch of wounds in quick succession. All of which were quickly healed by Shayna, who, for whatever reason, decided I was worth healing. Whatever her reason, I thanked her by turning the 5 goblins that decided to gang up on her into electrified piles of nonliving ash. Spinning around, I slashed at a goblin, slicing its head clean off. Smiling, I pivoted away from another goblin and introduced its face to a Fire spell. Stepping back, I felt a goblin jump onto my back, and immediately went "Oh shit." before being yanked backwards and feeling the goblin pulled off my back, before falling flat on my ass. Turning I saw Robbie yanking his sword out of the goblins body, and then a gloved hand being offered.

"So, what took you so long?" said Mathew, helping me up.

"Oh shut it. I had problems as well," I replied, standing in line with the others.

"Better late than never, eh?" said Robbie.

"Yeah, that's tru-" I was interrupted by the one person I didn't want to talk to.

"Took your sweet time! Those things nearly killed us," said Kathryn, her voice all things sugar and spice. Normally, I would give off emotional sparks. Right now, I was literally giving off sparks.

"Kathryn..." said almost everyone except Mathew and Shayna, who were smart enough to turn me around and give me a new target. The goblins.

I swear, they were "Oh shit" when they saw my face. For in that moment, I was one mean mother fucker.

"Smile kiddies. FLARE!" I shouted, before raising my hand and sending balls of energy into the sky. The goblins laughed for a moment, thinking I had missed, until the Flares starting raining down on them, the explosive spell turning all the goblins into all sorts of red mist and bits and pieces, as well as igniting the grass. Turning and looking at the now shaking Kathryn, sword in one hand, Flare orb in the other and grinning like the madman I, truthfully, am, I said:

"Now look what you went and made me do."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Introductions and Other Painful Things.

"Josh. Joshy. Joshywoshy-" Shayna's annoying attempts to get my attention were silenced by me flinging a fireball in her direction. Luckily, she managed to get out of the way of it, it continuing on its merry way and setting Robbie's hair on fire.

Note to self Josh: Don't kill the White Mage.

"Josh. Seriously, snap out of it. We need to talk," said Mathew, flinging a Water spell at Robbie, nearly drowning the poor bastard.

"If it's about Kathryn, forget it," I snapped.

"Get over it for 2 seconds. Where are we? What the hell is going on?" said Shayna, hammer raised threatening.

"Ok. Once upon a time, there were a group of friends who woke up to find themselves assigned different roles, fighting monster and setting up a camp on the edge of a lake with a fucking castle on the other side. You wanna know where I think we are? Fine. I think we are in Final fucking Fantasy!" I ranted, toasting a nearby tree with a Fire spell to get the point across.

Ok, clarification time.

My name is Josh. Don't ask for a last name, you won't get one. My family can rot for all I care. Anyway, I am, well WAS, a normal high school student. You know, exams, stress, relationship issues, all that shit. And these people that are annoying the crap out of me are, mostly, my friends.

Mathew, my bestie, partner in crime and the closest thing I'll have to a brother.

Lathen, my oldest friend, the one guy who has always been there.

Robbie. My other partner in crime, and general great mate.

Kyle, Reece and Nick, the silly ones. Always doing dumb things.

Deanna, Harley, and Amylee, the voices of something that looks like reason.

Hannah, Lathen's nutty as fuck girlfriend.

Charles and Tayla, friends and my main reasons for something resembling sanity. Mostly Tayla though. Charles doesn't really help half the time.

Sam and Morgan, the bloody lovebirds.

And Kathryn. Let's just say, that she pisses me off is an understatement.

We were normal school students. Until something happened and we got dumped in the world of Final Fantasy.

End clarification!

Anyway, I was looking over the landscape, marvelling at the peacefulness of it all, when I heard footsteps.

"Final Fantasy, huh?" asked Mathew, sitting on one side of me.

"Yeap," I replied.

"For real?" said Robbie, jamming his claymore into the ground and leaning back against it.

"Yeap."

"So, that would us..." said Mathew.

"Yeap."

"And that means..." questioned Robbie.

"Yeap. Tomorrow, we go there," I said, pointing at the castle.

"Great." All three of us muttered. We looked at each other, then cracked up laughing.

We walked back to the camp, which actually looked like something of the sort, as the sun was setting, Robbie and I dragging a deer we had managed to catch. Mathew walked on ahead, due to him killing the poor creature. Dumping the deer on the ground, Robbie then produced a knife and got to work gutting it and turning it into something edible, since he had done this before and all.

"So, what's cracking?" I asked, plonking myself on a comfortable patch of dirt.

"Well, we have dirt to sleep on, and we've chased off the rest of the goblins," said Shayna, who was dusting off her robes, which I noticed had red patterns all along the each of them.

"No luck lighting a fire though," said Charles, sitting down beside me and holding up a fist. I responded by bumping knuckles with him and then by lobbing a Fire spell at the small pile of sticks that Charles had gathered.

"Well, that's one problem down," he said, scratching his head, and then standing to go find more wood. As he stood, I noticed that his clothes were very earthy coloured, all greens and browns, and very simple as well. Hanging off his left hip was a small sword, and his right was some sort of animal horn.

"Well, I say we get everyone back here and talk about this," I said, tossing a small stick into the fire.

* * *

"Ok. If this world is what I think it is, then we just became very important people," I said. It was dark by now, but luckily the fire was casting off enough light for me to see everyone. They could see me clearly, namely because I was holding a Flare orb in my right hand.

"And, if I'm right, then we are gonna go through hell and back."

"Well, it can't get any worse than those things, right?" mused Reece, his mage cap sitting on the ground beside him, one arm around Deanna.

"If I'm right, those things are the least of our worries," I said, getting a kick out of watching Reece's customary grin fade away.

"Anyway, we need to work out what we can do. What... Abilities we have. I'm a Black Mage. Mathew's a Red Mage. He can cast magic and fight decently. Robbie's a Warrior. Shayna's a White Mage, a healer. Which means she's THE most important one out of us." That got a grin from Shayna, and sighs from everyone else. "Hey. She dies, we die. Simple as that. I'm guessing that Nick is a Dragoon, and that Harley is a Holy Dragoon. Can't see much, sorry. Anyway, Deanna's a Dark Knight, and... Kathryn's a Paladin. For whatever reason. For the rest of us... I dunno. We are gonna have to sort this tomorrow," I said, finishing and letting the Flare orb dissipate.

"Wait, why?" asked Harley, shifting slightly, his armour clinking.

"Because I'm bloody tired and am, quite frankly, sick of this shit. Anyone gonna argue with me?" I said, anger flaring up. No one answered.

"Good. Now, goodnight. I need sleep. And coffee. But mostly sleep." And with that, I laid on my side and shut my eyes.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Good Morning Final Fantasy!... Or Something Like That...

Normally, I'm a good morning person, as long as I got enough sleep. Normally. Not today. For this morning, what woke me up wasn't a alarm, or even a dying cat. No, this morning, it was the sound of several people giggling.

"Huh?" I managed to get out, before someone either dumped a bucket of water on my head, or threw a Water spell at me. Either way, I shot up and screamed:

"YOU LOT ARE DEAD MEN!"

* * *

Ok, ok, once I got over the fact that I got woken up by Tayla, Charles and Mathew dumping a Water spell on me, it WAS pretty funny. Not as funny as watching Charles dance around while being chased by Thunder spells though. This, and my swearing from before, woke up the others, which gave me a chance to look them over.

Lathen didn't seem to have any weapon, although he did have gloves with metal studs on the knuckles. _Might be a Monk_ I thought.

Hannah was wearing clothes that were similar to mine, but with darker shades of blue. Plus, no pointing hat. _Blue Mage _

Tayla's robes were all brown and green, very earthy. Plus, I saw her accidently open up a hole in the ground while she was cracking up at Charles "dancing". _COULD be a Geomancer._

Reece was a Time Mage. Only Time Mages had robes THAT silly. And orange. He was like a walking neon sign.

Kyle was wearing, surprisingly, the most normal clothes out of all of us. Not one piece of armour on him. (Hell, even I, the Black Mage of all people, had a leather chest piece underneath my jacket, as well as a metal bracer on my left arm.) He also had two "small" (size was relative to all the other weapons around.) curved daggers. Plus he tried to steal my hat earlier. That earnt him a few cuts and a head full of on fire hair. _ Thief. Has to be_

Amylee, well, she looked like a mad professor. Jacket, dress type thingy (not sure want to call it) that stopped halfway down her lower leg, and a small bag handing off her belt that rattled when she walked. _Only thing I can think of is a Chemist. Please don't blow us up Amylee _I prayed silently.

Sam. Well... Animal furs and a massive axe. _Berserker._

Morgan. Bow and Arrows. Lots and lots of arrows. _Ranger_

Charles. Naturey clothing. All browns and greens. Some form of animal horn on his belt. _Hmmm... Summoner?__  
_

At least, I think that's what they are. Anyway, didn't matter. What DID matter was that we were down a person. Damnit, How did I miss that?

"Hey guys. Where's Harley?" I asked, looking around.

"Umm... I dunno Josh. Harley?" shouted Amylee, looking around. I did the same, while getting very annoyed at a buzzy sound that strangely sound like someone...

"... Going "weeee"," I mused out loud, before having a horrible feeling that something painful was about to happen. Slowly, I looked up.

And saw Harley coming down from the sky.

We both went "Oh FUCK."

Then impact.

_BOOOOM. _I swear, the castle must of heard the impact. And if they didn't hear that, they sure as hell heard me swearing.

* * *

"Stupid Harley and his stupid Jump. Had to land right on top of me," I steamed, stomping along ahead of everyone else. Thank god that Shayna was a White Mage, else I would be a Black Mage shaped pile of flesh and broken bones right now. Still, didn't stop it for hurting. Feeling very angry, I walked onto the beach that sat on the lakeside and kicked a stone into the lake, imagining that it was Harley's head. For good measure, I also toasted the stone with a Fire spell.

Wait, I just remembered. How are we gonna get across the lake?

"Shit," I said, as Mathew walked up alongside me.

"What?" he asked, taking his hat off and flicking imaginary dust off of it. Seriously, he is getting OCD about that hat of his.

"How we gonna get across this?" I said, waving a hand at the lake. It was easily 2 kilometres wide, aka too wide to swim across. No boats anywhere in sight. And the forests along the edge looked about as inviting as a pissed off, PMSing grizzly bear. _Please God, don't let there be grizzlies here _I suddenly prayed.

'Well... Shit," Mathew said, putting his hat back on. He then sighed, and cast a small Blizzard spell, creating a small chunk of ice, which he then started sucking on. _Smart man _I thought, before doing the same. Except my spell didn't create a small chunk, but instead sent a massive shard into the lake, freezing a small part of the surface in front of us. We then looked at each other. And nodded.

* * *

"Well, this sure beats swimming," I said, casting Blizzard spells every few seconds. Me and Mathew were walking ahead and behind everyone else, freezing the lake water in front and behind us with Blizzard.

'Yea, but what about the fish in the lake?" asked Tayla, who had elected to walk alongside me after she had a mishap with a thin patch of ice which nearly lead to her untimely death.

"We're only freezing the surface of the lake. At least, I think we are. Besides, its the fish or us," I replied, nearly slipping over once I had finished speaking. Once I regained my footing, I looked and saw that we had crossed most of the lake. _Good, I'm starting to get tired _I thought. That was true, as it was getting harder and harder to summon forth the ice shards with every casting.

"You sure you can get us across?" asked Tayla, noticing my growing weariness.

"Yea, I can do it," I said, trying my very best to sound confident. _Yeap, keep telling yourself that. No, Shut up negativity._

"Ok then. Just don't go and kill yourself, ok?" said Tayla. _Wait, did she just say she gave a shit about me? Well shit, someone does care._

"Ok," I muttered, before casting Blizzard one more time, linking our moving ice platform with the shore. Quickly, I ran and jumped onto the beach, cocked up the landing and fell to the ground, panting like crazy.

"Wow... Ok... That was.. Tiring... Must... Recover... Energy..." I muttered, before giving in to my body's cries for rest and passing out.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Mad Dashes and Alone Times

Now, I don't mind running. Don't enjoy it, but don't mind it. Which is good, considering I was running for my life and fast as my magical legs could carry me.

"REECE! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, CAST HASTE!" I shouted at the resident Time Mage.

"I'm trying! I don't work well under pressure!" he replied, looking all the part a mage running for his life. In his defense he HAD been trying to cast Haste the whole time we had been running

Note to self: Get all the mages together and get them to cast magic, just so they get the hang of it.

Anyway, dragging my mind back to the issue at hand, I looked behind me to see if we should keep running. The sight of a VERY angry Behemoth hot on our tails told me (and my legs) to keep running.

And that I did. Catching up to Robbie, I yelled: "Did you have to piss off a fucking BEHEMOTH? OF ALL THINGS?"

"HEY! I thought it was a deer!" he replied, clearly as pissed at himself as I was.

"How the FUCK did you think a massive fucking killing machine the size of a small house was a fucking DEER?" I ranted, very seriously thinking about tripping him over and letting the Behemoth get him.

Then, as if the universe was saying "Fuck it, they can live", Reece finally managed to cast a spell.

Too bad for us it was Slow.

Luckily for us, Reece was smart enough to realise that it wasn't the spell he wanted, and managed to send it at the Behemoth, rather than at Lathen's face.

Suddenly, the Behemoth went from "rampage" to "snail" in about 0.3 seconds. Much to our collective relief.

For the second time in 24 hours, I felt the urge to lay the fuck down and not do anything, because I was knocked out. Luckily for me, my mind didn't feel like listening to my body, and told it to keep walking. Walking up to my panting friends, I said: "We all right?" and got a tired chorus of sounds sounding like "yes". Satisfied that they wouldn't die if I turned away, I then turned around and looked around. I immediately noticed that our mad running-for-our-lives episode had managed to get us further away from the castle. I also noticed that, as if to say "You can live, but I still hate you", the sun was setting.

Jesus, we just can't get a break, can we? Sighing, I went to inform the others of the situation, and prepared myself to get yelled at.

* * *

Fire. Check. Food. Check. Friends to talk to, and to annoy. Checked several times over. If we weren't so tired, then we would have been having a good time. Looking over the fire, I first noticed Robbie and Mathew, the only two who seemed to _enjoy_ this hell, laughing at something that Robbie had said. Scanning further, I saw Samuel and Morgan, both of whom were sleeping, snuggling close to each other.

On the other side of the fire, I saw Reece, Nick and Kyle showing off to each other, having turned the _massive_ telling off that they had got from Josh into something fun to do. Indeed, once the short and murderous one had got his breath back, he lost it again by shouting at everyone at the top of his lungs, saying that if anyone went off by themselves again, he would force-feed them his sword and top it off with a Flare spell. Remembering what he had done to those goblins (and the evil grin on his face as he did it. Seriously, how does _anyone_ enjoy doing that to a living being), I shuddered, more in fear than anything else. He had changed since we had arrived here. I mean, he had always been violent, but this was something... different.

Speaking of Josh, where was he?

Looking around, I saw that he wasn't there, once I had finished gagging at the foul smell that washed across the camp, thanks to Robbie throwing the guts of the deer we had eaten onto the fire. Slightly worried, I stood and walked away from the others, hand on my dagger the whole time. The area where we had decided to camp was near a cliff, and I had a feeling that Josh was there.

Sure enough, I was right. There he was, sitting near the edge of the cliff.

In the dark, I saw his shoulders shudder. At first I thought he sneezed, and then I saw them shudder again.

Then I heard the sound of him sobbing. If I didn't know what it sounded like, I wouldn't have heard it. Slowly, I walked up to where he sat. Nothing, then I slowly knelt down beside him. Still nothing except the sound of him crying softly. Then, I slowly hugged him. He knew who I was, and leant into it gently, taking comfort from it more than anything else.

Then he spoke. And I have never been more scared, through all of this, than I was then.

For Josh, the one person who had managed to keep us alive for the past two days, almost by himself, Josh, the person who had gotten us across that lake in one piece, and nearly died for it (Shayna told me that more than once she had to heal him, because his heartbeat went _very_ faint), Josh, who had managed to keep us together, said:

"I'm scared. More scared then I've been in my life. I know I've kept us alive, and all that shit. But that's what scares me. Because... What happens if I fuck up? What happens if I get it wrong?"

I didn't say anything for a moment, only hugged him tighter. Then I said:

"Then, don't fuck up. You're doing a great job. And... We are glad. Glad that you are brave enough to make sure we don't make the wrong moves, or eat the wrong food, or cast the wrong spells. We are."

Once I had managed, somehow, to get him back to the camp, I saw that everyone was asleep around the dying fire. Josh, smiling sadly, picked up a log and placed it on the fire. He then stabbed his sword into the ground, slowly lay down on the ground, and closed his eyes. Watching his face slowly become peaceful, I realised something.

Josh wasn't being mean when he yelled, or angry when he threw punches, or murderous when he killed things without a second thought.

He was afraid.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Weee, an authors note! :D Anyway, heres chapter 6. please note that no amount of bitching will get me to upload faster, so STOP IT. Anywho, read and review, because reviews give me the fuzzys, and the fuzzys make me write more.

DISCLAIMER: For the love of god, I don't own anything mildly related to Final Fantasy! Only the characters are mine, along with the overall storyline. Everything else is Square Enix's, because I don't like being raped by ninja lawyers.

Chapter 6: The City of Dreams... Sort of

The next morning I woke up first, for once. Everyone was still asleep, at peace. After my little meltdown the night before, I was feeling a lot better. I mean, I still wanted to murder Kathryn, but that was different. Anyway, I shook off the weariness and slowly dragged myself off the ground. Looking around, I heard a growling noise. I quickly spun around. Nothing. Then it happened again. I then realized that I was hungry. Quickly, I looked around. Nope, the deer was gone. Looking around, I saw a tree. Or, rather, the apples in it. I smiled.

Watching the others wake up was new. Normally, I was the last one to wake up. So, this was a new experience. I watched as Hannah woke up and kicked Lathen until he woke up, snorting the whole time. I watched as Mathew slowly got up, dusted himself off and spent 15 minutes cleaning his hat. As each of them got up, I threw an apple at them, laughing whenever they caught it with their face. I also got a few strange looks, as I'm normally the living dead in the morning, but here I was, having a good time, eating an apple of all things.

"So, why you in such a good mood?" asked Robbie, sitting beside me and ripping a chunk out of his apple.

"I dunno. But I suppose it has something to do with the fact that we should be sleeping under a roof tonight," I said, pointing at the spires of the castle. At some point, most likely while running for my life from that Behemoth, I noticed that there was a small city built around the castle.

"Oh ok then. I'm starting to miss having a bed," said Robbie, tossing his apple core away. Yeah, he eats FAST.

"Right! Let's go! And no pissing off the local wildlife," I said, jumping to my feet and smiling.

* * *

We walked towards the city gates, me at the head, naturally. As we got closer and closer to the city, the bigger it seemed. Now that we were only a few hundred meters away from the gate, the walls seemed impossibly tall, almost indestructible.

"Hey! Kids! O'er here!" I turned and saw that a guard was waving at us. Clad in orange armor, leaning on his spear, he seemed friendly. We walked up to him slowly.

"Well, aren't we an interesting lot, eh? Not very often we have travelers like you lot pass through our lovely city of Alexandria," he said, smiling. For whatever reason, I liked him. He had that grandpa feel about him.

"Anyway, whatcha need? You can go into the city, but you'll be hard pressed to find much of anything in there. At least, not without directions," he said.

"Well..." I looked at my ragtag followers/friends, and they all looked worse for wear.

"An Inn. Or anywhere that we can stay," I said, turning back.

"Got just the place. Small inn, not too far from the gate. Place called The Angelwing. Just say that Captain Travis sent you there. That should get you a free night," he said, smiling.

"Thanks," I said, smiling in return, before entering the city.

Wow. All of this stuff... Just crammed into this small space. In the space of about 300 meters, we saw 2 pubs, each of which was full with people, an armory, a blacksmith, 2 general stores, a magic store (must look there lately) and a brothel. Looking around and trying to take it all in was doing my head in, so as soon as we found The Angelwing Inn, I dived in, in an attempt to escape all the noise.

Inside the inn, it was actually rather nice. Arm chairs, some bookcases full of books, a fireplace with evidence of recent activity, a bar, an eating area and what appeared to be a fairly decent kitchen. Once all of us were inside (Reece and Nick had to be dragged in), I went up to the bar and rang the bell.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" came a cry, followed by a crashing sound and some swearing. Then a door near the end of the bar was flung open and a girl about our age came up to me.

"What'll it be, then?" she asked, tying her hair back in a ponytail. She looked good, you know, the bits that I could – Shut up!

"Well, Captain Travis said there were some rooms here...?" I said.

"He's not wrong. Hmmm... 14 of you... Well, bugger it. Here. Rooms 4 and 6, across the hall from each other. Go up those stairs and to your left. Now, kindly piss off. I've got to clean this place up," she said, shooing us away and up the stairs. Blinking, I shrugged, then went and found Room 4. Opening it, I found that it contained 2 sets of bunk beds, 3 singles and 1 double bed. Running to the double, I claimed it as my own by jumping onto it and hugging the soft pillows. I then regretted it as a yawn overtook me.

Looking up at 6 of my bemused friends, Charles, Tayla, Harley, Amylee, Sam and Morgan, I said:

"Piss off, it's MY bed! And as my first act as ruler of the double bed, I will spend the next few hours hugging the pillows in my sleep."

I then closed my eyes and felt sleep overtake me almost instantly.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: HELLO MY PEOPLES. God, I REALLY should of posted this a week ago! Anyway, as you can tell, I follow no uploading pattern at all. And bitching about it won't make me upload faster. So, be glad with what you , this ones a bit short, and a tiny bit fluffy, but oh well!

DISCLAIMER: Square Enix owns everything but the characters and the general storyline. I would say otherwise, but I like living and not breathing through a straw.

Chapter 7: Finally, A Break From It All

When I woke up, there was no one around. Sitting up and looking out the window, I saw that the sun was high in the sky

_Wait... Wasn't it afternoon when we got- OH SHIT _I clicked, realizing that I must have slept for an entire day!

Jumping up from bed, I shot off downstairs to the bar.

"Your friends are around the city," said the barmaid, not looking up from the glass she was cleaning. Looking around, I saw that, like the rooms, the ground floor was devoid of life.

"Oh. I noticed," I said, sitting at the bar. She looked up at me, sighed, then walked over to where I was sitting and looked at me like I was some form of deranged piece of art.

"Well, what'll it be, then?" she asked, looking at me with brown eyes that possessed a tint of rosy red.

"Well... " I started, but my stomach finished my sentence by growling to high heaven.

"Gotcha. I'll cook up something," she said, giving me an amused grin as she waltzed into the kitchen and started cooking. As I watched, I realized a few things. One, she had REALLY pretty eyes. Two, I should really stop staring at her; she might get the wrong message. And three, I was really fucking hungry!

About 10 minutes later she came back, with a plate full of bacon, eggs and sausages. And I had a question in my mind.

"What's your name, anyway?" I asked, accepting the plate and digging in.

"What makes you think you get to find out?" she replied folding her arms and smiling a "push your luck and I'll break your legs" smile.

"Because I'm a handsome devil and I wanna rock your world. Also, it's getting really old being able to talk to you and having to remove all uses of pronouns relating to your name," I said, knowing that I had won when her smile morphed into one of amusement.

"Well, when you put it like that... Elizibeth. You don't get a last name yet," she said with a wink.

"Well, Elizibeth, wanna just sit and talk for a few hours? I've got nothing better to do and you're hardly doing a roaring trade," I said, smiling. She gave me a look, and then disappeared into the kitchen again. I sighed, thinking that I had blown it beyond belief. Which is why I got a shock when she came back out a few minutes later, holding a jug fill of that elixir of life, coffee, and two mugs.

"Thought I should get a drink for us both, before I got comfortable," she said, placing the jug and mugs down, before walking around the bar and sitting beside me.

"How thoughtful. But seriously, I love you," I said, going straight for the coffee, my addiction getting the better of me. Much to her amusement.

Over the next few hours, I learned quite a few things about Elizibeth. For one, she was only 17, which was a bit young to be running a bar. Another thing: She was actually training as a Paladin, until she had to come home for "unforeseen reasons". It didn't take much pushing on my part to get her to tell the truth: She had been kicked out for taking her temper out on her trainer. She stated several times that it wasn't her fault that the first Black Magic spell she ever cast was Comet. I found this wildly amusing, even more so once she told me that the poor bastard's horse had been killed by the same spell. As for the bar, it was actually her families, currently being run by her and her father, with her older brother traveling the lands. As for where her father was...

"Well... My dad's sick. Like, really sick," she finally said, eyes glazing over with tears. I went to say something, no sure what, but she cut me off.

"No, it's ok. He's fine. The local Sage is taking care of him. Apparently, the Sage was once the most powerful White Mage in the world. Not anymore, if looks are any judge, but that's not the point. The point is, he can keep my dad alive... But he needs some herb or plant or something like that to cure my dad... I didn't really pay attention," she finished, sighing and looking like she was about to cry. Not good. I got the feeling that if she started crying, she would be hard to stop.

"Hey... At least he's alive. Trust me; there are things far worse than being sick..." I heard myself say that, and my voice trailing off. I suddenly felt the surge of emotions that came with any mention of the horrible human being that called himself my father, and found myself tearing up.

"Hey... You ok?" Elizibeth asked, looking at me with concern written all over her face.

"I'm... Fine... Just some... Unresolved issues... That's all.." I managed to choke out, while trying my very best not to scream in frustration. Clearly able to tell that something was up, Elizibeth reached over and put a hand on my arm.

"Hey. Any issues you have can't be as bad as mine," she said, smiling in an attempt to reassure me.

"Trust me, Elizibeth, you have no idea," I replied, though I did return her smile, which caused hers to widen.

"Call me Lizi, ummm..." her voice trailed off, before I realized something.

"Josh. My name's Josh," I said.


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Hello. Ok, this is quite possibly my least favorite chapter so far. Its a) about 2 months old, and b) based on events that I have long since stopped really caring about. But, as much as I want to take it out, I can't, due to events that occur later on in the chapter. Anyway, hope you enjoy. I surely didn't enjoy rereading it. :/

DISCLAIMER: *random stuff about me not owning Final Fantasy that I'm too lazy to write because this is the second chapter for a story I've uploaded tonight.*

Chapter 8: Midnight Snacks and Promises

Sure sure, she may be young, but Lizi is a damn good cook. I mean, damn, that dinner was the best food I had eaten in ages. And as I stay in front of the roaring fire that I had lit (I used a Fire spell to light it once I stopped laughing at Lizi failing at it) with a cup of hot chocolate (Lizi refused to let me have a fifth coffee), I smiled. I was warm, I was fed, I had fueled my coffee addiction, and I had made a friend.

That and I had lit Robbie's hair on fire again. It will never get old, I swear.

Looking around, I kept smiling. Sam and Morgan were cuddled up on the floor in front of the fire. Hannah and Lathen were sharing a armchair. Tayla and Charles cuddling each other on the couch. Amylee and Harley were having a tickle fight, much to the amusement of the others. Everyone else was seated at tables, talking amongst themselves. Everyone seemed... Happy. And healthy. Mentally, I patted myself on the back and smiled.

"Great job Josh. You got everyone through that," I muttered to myself. Looking around, I saw Lizi waving me over. Shaking my head, I stood and walked over to the bar.

"Hey. Umm... I kinda need a hand..." she asked, almost shyly. My smile got bigger.

"Not used to asking for help?" I asked.

"Well... No," she said. "But please, can ya give me a hand? I need to get some stuff outta the storage room."

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" I replied. I didn't think that this act of kindness would lead to attempted murder...

* * *

Later on in the night, we were still moving boxes and crates.

"Damnit... How much stuff... Do you need?" I asked, out of breath.

"Well... You lot... Are chewing through the food and drink..." She replied, as tired as I was. "But... I think... We've got almost enough... One more load?"

"Why not... It's not like it'll kill us... Right?" I asked, somewhat seriously. That question cracked a smile on her tired face, so I pressed on.

"I mean, there could a poisonous spider on one of those boxes." A snort. "Or a snake!" A giggle. "Or even a man-eating Behemoth!" That was the tipping point. In seconds she was grabbing at her sides, trying not to dying of laughter. I then joined in, the sight almost too much to bear. Then I opened the storage room.

And froze.

For there was Mathew, my best friend, making out with Kathryn, the main reason behind one of my larger issues. The red curtain dropped, and the next thing I remember was Lizi dragging me away from the storage room while Mathew and Kathryn ran for their lives.

"Josh, calm down. I don't need you burning down my inn!" she firmly said, being very careful not to shout. I gave her a look, then saw that my left hand – No, my entire lower left arm, was engulfed in flames. Looking in the storage room, I saw that there was a small fire already started. Swearing, I banished my anger fuelled flames and tried to cast a Water spell. But failed. _Damnit, I need to be calmer to cast Water... _I thought, before looking at Lizi. She was staring at me, with a look that scared me to a degree. It was a look of fear. That shocked me out of my anger. Turning, I muttered "Water" then sent the spell into the heart of the fire, letting it explode outwards and putting the flames out.

* * *

"Sorry..." I muttered. I was sitting on the bar, with a cup of hot chocolate and some biscuits that Lizi had found.

"Like I said, it's alright. You saw red, and I know what that's like," replied Lizi, smiling kindly. After I put out the fire in the storage room, Lizi had sat me down and not let me move until I vented my anger to her. I, naturally, refused, saying that it wasn't hers to bear. She gave up after that, and instead let me be for a while, and cleaned up the mess I had created.

"I know... But you don't have magic that gets more powerful the angrier you are..." I said, hanging my head. _I should be able to handle my anger better. Damnit Josh! You sh_- My thoughts were interrupted by Lizi bringing her hand around and slapping me across the face. I stood there for a moment, quite honestly shocked, and then I grimaced as the pain set in.

"Ow... What was that for?" I demanded, rubbing my abused cheek.

"To snap you out of you brooding session," Lizi stated simply. "I've never met anyone like you before Josh. You're completely nuts. You seem cold and indifferent, but you actually care about your friends a lot. A lot more then you're willing to admit, actually. But just now, seeing you sit here and mope about something that's been and gone, now that isn't right. I've known you for a day, and I already know that moping around isn't like you. It just doesn't suit you. You're not mopey or broody. You're mad, insane, funny, extremely caring, almost lovable, and, quite frankly, kinda charming, in your own way. Now, I want you to promise me something. That you'll never brood or mope about anything that's been and gone. Got it?"

I just sat there, blinking, mouth open in a perfect "o" shape. The entire time she was speaking, Lizi had been pacing in front of me, her eyes never leaving mine. For the last bit, she had pointed a finger at me, and no other finger had scared me that much in my life. After a few moments of just sitting there, making movements with my mouth, I managed to find my voice.

"Umm... o... Ok. I promise," I stuttered out. As soon as I said that, Lizi went from scary big sister to lovable in half a second.

"Good. Now, finish that drink and those biscuits! We better be off to bed," she said, smiling her smile.

I just shook my head and drank my hot chocolate.


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Woot. Start of the actual plot! Now, if this chapter bores the socks off of you, don't worry! The next chapter is a great one, and my favorite so far!

DISCLAIMER: My moral center reminds me to say that i do not own Final Fantasy or anything remotely FF-ish. Have a good day.

Chapter 9: Will The Real White Mage Please Stand Up?

I was already awake when the others began filtering down from the rooms. Among the first was Tayla, her "I'm gonna murder you" look on her face. Sitting down beside me, she sighed, then slapped me across the face and started ranting and raving. I was tempted to set her hair on fire and be done with it, but I was a good boy and didn't. I didn't really pay attention to her, instead choosing to make plans for the day in my head, and feed my coffee addiction.

"... And on top of everything else, you're not even listening!" Tayla sighed, clearing getting even more pissed off.

"What's done is done. All we can do is live with it," I said simply, looking her straight in the eye as I said it. I think that caught her off guard, judging by the fact she nearly fell off her bar stool.

"wha... Um.. Huh... Uh..." I couldn't help but laugh as she tried to recover for that. After that, I drank my coffee and looked around, watching as the others came down the stairs slowly. Listening, I heard banging and shouting as someone fell out of bed. Then I whipped around as the door crashed out.

"Oh thank the gods, the place is still in one piece," said Lizi, smirking as she carried a box full with veges and other assorted goodies.

"Oh ha ha ha. Like I'm gonna burn this place down. I like it," I said, downing the rest of my coffee.

"Sure sure. Just like you didn't nearly burn it down last night?" she asked sarcastic, but I could tell her heart wasn't in the comment. Sitting down beside me, she sighed, then started going through the box, making small piles out of the various items.

"Whats wrong?" I flatly asked.

"... What makes you think there's something wrong?" she snapped back.

"I can tell. I've been around moody teenage girls long enough to know," I replied, somewhat harshly.

"... Ok, fine. You win. My dads's dying, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it," Lizi said, turning to me, her eyes tearing up. I blinked, unsure what to do for a moment. Dealing with crying teenage girls is most definitely NOT one of my strong points.

"Ummm... Look, it can't be that bad, right? You dad must be fighting..." I managed to get out, before looking at the table where Tayla and Shayna were seated and mouthing: "For the love of god, help!" Sighing, Shayna stood and walked over, before sitting on Lizi's other side and putting a arm around her. Mouthing "thanks" to Shayna, I stood and patted Lizi's shoulder, before walking into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee. Waiting for the kettle to boil, I lent against the door frame and looked at Shayna and the now crying Lizi. As I looked, a idea began to form. Walking out of the kitchen, I placed a cup of coffee in front of Lizi, who looked up at me as I smiled reassuringly.

"Drink up, kiddo. We're going for a walk."

Once everyone was up, fed and had some amount of coffee, we left the Angelwing and hit the town. Armed with a map and a few thousand gil, we had a simple mission: get supplies and new equipment, and get our current equipment checked and repaired. With that mission in mind, we dived into different stores. My first target, as well as Shayna's and Lizi's (we didn't let the distressed girl out of our sight), was the magic store that I had sighted coming into Alexandria. As it turns out, they were actually really good. I picked up as many scrolls as I could, intending on reading them on my travels. Shayna also grabbed a few scrolls, and even Lizi grabbed 2, which I believe to be for Cure and Esuna. As we walked out, we saw Robbie and Mathew having a argument over a sword of some sorts. Shrugging, I entered the store and looked around. Pulling out my own sword, I looked it over. It was covered in grim already, despite only really being used once, but that came off as I rubbed the blade of it with my jacket.

"Mighty fine sword there, boy," said a gruff voice behind me. Turning, I saw a gruff looking man. Bushy bread, towered above me.

"Great craftsmanship. Do you mind?" He asked, holding out a hand. I shook my head, handing my sword over. Running his fingers along the blade, he nodded, then placed a finger on the blade and balanced it on his finger.

"Perfectly balanced. Whoever made this weapon was a master smith," he said, handing the weapon back. Looking at it for a moment, he stroked his bread, then clicked his fingers.

"Its calling for a friend, my boy. Your weapon. It seems to be suited for duel blade combat... Hmmm..." looking over the array of weapons on the shops walls, he went through them, before shaking his head and reaching behind a small pile of shields and pulling out a short sword. In contrast to my sword, it wasn't much, but it gleamed, as if eager to prove itself.

'Here. Try this," the blacksmith said, handing me the sword. Even in my left hand, I could tell it was a good weapon (at least, the part of me that harbored the knowledge to tell the difference). Nodding, I said: "I'll take it."

Gathering the troops was easier said then done. Robbie and Mathew were STILL arguing. It took much threatening from me and Shayna to get the two of them out of the store. Tayla had found some scrolls in the magic store that interested her, as had Reece. Charles was drooling over a ridiculously expensive sword on display at the weapon store. Lathen and Hannah were cooing over a baby Chocobo (well, Hannah was and Lathen had no choice). Once we had managed to gather everyone, we sent them back to the Angelwing, then me, Shayna and Lizi set off to our final stop for the day.

* * *

We were walking down one of the _many_ alleyways that Alexandria contained, when Lizi stopped us.

"This is the place," she said, point at a unassuming building. Walking up to the door, she knocked three times, then waited.

"Bloody hell, what now?" shouted a voice, before a series of banging noises were heard from within the house. Finally, the door was opened, and a man stepped out. He was at least 50, with a head full of grey hair, and wrinkles. His eyes, however, shone a vivid green, almost the exact same shade that Shayna's eyes now glowed. He wore a robe of the same vein as Shayna's as well, a white robe with red swilling patterns, and he lent on a staff.

"Well well well, if it isn't my dear girl Lizi. And, she brought some friends as well!" he said, almost to himself, looking at us. When his eyes fell on Shayna, his eyes went wide with shock.

"My _my_, isn't that quite a shine you've got there," he said, pointing at her eyes, before continuing. "Well just don't stand there, come in!" And with that, he all but pushed us inside. Inside, it looked like I had cast Tornado. There were scrolls and pieces of paper everywhere. I went to pick one up, but the old mans staff whacked my hand away.

"And what makes you think you can read that, Black Mage?" he spoke, in almost a mocky tone. I had the sudden and overpowering urge to shove a Flare spell down his throat. Lizi must of sensed this, because she walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder in an attempted to keep me calm. _Damnit, she can read me like a book. Then again, so cold... Best not to go there _I thought. Instead, I watched as the man, who I assume was the Sage that Lizi had spoke of, looked Shayna up and down, as if looking into her, seeing how much power she had within her.

"My my, you are powerful. But, sadly, untrained. Hmmm... Read this," he said, handing her a scroll. This one, was _old_. And, it seem to radiate power. Slowly, Shayna opened it and read what it contained.

Then, she screamed.

Dropping the scroll, she grabbed at her arm, face showing the agony she was in. As I watched, she pulled back the sheeve of her robe, and gasped. On her arm, almost smoking, was a pattern, white and black swills along her upper arm.

"The Mark of the Sage. It shows the one marked by the gods- Ah!" the man yelped as I slammed him into a wall, sword against his throat and coated in flames.

"_What did you do to her?_" I demanded, my voice cracking with fury.

"Nothing... I simply showed her what was already there," he replied.

"Josh! Don't kill him! I need him!" Lizi almost shouted, trying to pull me off of the Sage.

"Josh. He's right. Let him go," said Shayna, in a small voice. Looking at her, I grunted, then yanked the Sage off the wall and walked over to the other side of the room, sheathing my sword before I feel the urge to make him eat it.

"Now, I think she has the power to heal your father," The Sage said, looking at Lizi, who gasped and looked at Shayna with pleading eyes.

"I'll try," she said.

* * *

Lizi's father was a mess. His blond hair stuck to his clammy, pale skin, and the general area around him smelt... _wrong_. Like something was seriously wrong with him.

"He is sick. He'll die very soon if not cured," said the Sage, looking at Shayna.

"Ok... How do I heal him," she said, looking at the sick man in front of her.

"Focus. Let it come naturally," said The Sage, watching. Shayna nodded, then closed her eyes. A second later, a purple light enveloped her left hand. Slowly, she placed her hand on the sick man. I raised an eyebrow as the light spread over his entire body, before fading. Opening her eyes, Shayna looked at the Sage, who shrugged.

Then, Lizi's father coughed. I swear, I've never seen someone move that fast, the speed that Lizi jumped to her fathers side.

"Dad? You in there?" she said, her voice shaking. The man inquestion coughed again, then opened his eyes.

"Course I am Elizibeth," he said, his voice faint. Lizi gave a small squeel, then pulled her father into a bonecrushing hug. Smiling ever so slightly, I patted Shayna on the shoulder, then left the room.

And ran head on into The Sage, who promptly grabbed my arm and shoved a scroll into my hand.

"You too, will understand.. " he said, before walking back into the room containing a very happy Lizi, a barely breathing father, and a utterly shell shocked Shayna. I look down at the scroll, and shake my head, before leaving the building.


	11. Chapter 10

A/N: Watery here. I had a great time writing this chapter! Finally, a battle scene!

DISCLAIMER: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy and anything from it.

Chapter 10: So Much For That Break...

I was lying on the roof of the Angelwing, watching the stars. Once Lizi had done the needed crying and shouting and beating towards her father, we had returned to the bar to find that Tayla had upended a jug of milk on Charles's head, that Hannah had cooked enough food for a army, and that Mathew and Kathryn had shifted their make out area from the storehouse to the couch. After calming me down enough that I wouldn't be tempted to cast Flare on the entire building, Lizi had exiled me to the roof, apparently the only place that I was safe in. I wasn't alone, at all. First Tayla came up, to make sure I wasn't going to murder them all in their sleep. Then Shayna, who damn near broke my leg. Finally, Lizi, who gave me a plate of food and a cup of coffee.

Sighing, I sat up. I had been up here for hours, doing _nothing_. Then, I remember something. Pulling it out, I held the scroll that the Sage had given me.

"'You too, will understand...' Whatever the fuck that means... " I muttered, before looking at the scroll again. Sighing, not quite believing what I was about to do, I slowly opened the scroll and read it. On the paper was a single symbol. Something inside my mind screamed at me _CHAOS! _before I dropped the scroll as a burning pain shot up my left arm. I fought back the urge to scream as the pain intensified, as if my skin was being stabbed by hundreds of hot needles. I lost the fight against screaming in pain, and let out a howl of pain. Pulling back my jacket sleeve, I watched as a pattern of black and red markings formed on my skin. It ran all the way around my lower arm, and most of the way up it. As I watched, the pattern finished forming itself, completing the shape. It was all blacks and reds, with a single diamond of gold near his wrist.

"Hey Josh? What's wrong?" asked Lizi, climbing up onto the roof and looking at me in shock.

"I don't... It's just... AHHH!" I screamed as all the emotions I had built up, and held back were unleashed on my soul at the same time. Before I could stop myself, I was almost screaming at Lizi.

"All this time, I've been leading them! Keeping them alive! I'm not a leader, I'm not a wise man, I'm not a saint! Yet everyone hangs on my decisions! Why? I'm a PSYCHO! I _enjoy_ killing! I am no saint, I am a sinner! It isn't fair! I can't do it! It's too much... AHHHHH!"

At that point, I screamed and was driven to my knees as a _massive_ pulse of pain shot through the pattern on my arm. Then a golden light began emitting from my body, as a pattern of golden light appeared on the rooftop of the Angelwing, and several of the neighboring buildings. It then began emitting pulses of light as my mark started glowing a bright blue. In the distance, I heard a roar.

"Josh... What's happening?.." said Lizi, a look of fear on her face.

"I... Don't... Know... " I managed to get out, before slowly staggering to my feet. Looking around, I saw the city guard running around like madmen, pointing at something. I then saw that something, a golden blur, scream down from the sky and blast a entire street with a beam of light.

"Good gods above... " whispered Lizi, before running back and _jumping _ from the rooftop to the street below. I turned to see if she was alright, but the doors of the bar slamming open confirmed that she was alright. Turning, I looked at the carnage occurring in the city. Whatever was attacking, it now swooped down towards the Angelwing, preparing to blast it, and me, to oblivion.

No way in _HELL _am I letting that happen!

As it launched a fireball at the bar, I myself launched a massive Flare spell at the fireball. The two orbs smashed together mid flight, exploding both of them. That seemed to get the things attention, for it slowed to a stop in front of the Angelwing. And, finally, I got a look at the being that had caused so much damage already.

"Hello, Bahamut FURY," I said. The golden dragon roared in reply. It was easily three times the size of the Angelwing, and that was ignoring its massive wings and the spikes coming off of them, tips of which were crackling with energy.

"A challenge, is it?" I said, smiling my most evil grin. Drawing my sword and pointing it directly at the magnificent dragon, I said: "Well then, let's _dance!_"

Leaping towards the dragon, I launched a series of spells at it, then slammed my sword downwards in an attempt to slash its face. The spells impacted with the dragon's flanks, driving it backwards slightly. Meanwhile, my sword was caught by it _biting down on the blade!_ I had enough time to pull my free arm back to cast a Flare spell before the dragon blast me with a burst of energy. Using the Flare spell as a shield, I planted my feet down on the dragons face and jumped as high as I could, sending me flying up through the air.

Spinning my sword, I began casting spell after spell after spell at the dragon, intent on grinding it into the ground. Slowly, I drove the beast downward, inch by inch. Suddenly, Bahamut released a blast from its body and repelled every spell I sent its way, before launching itself off the ground and towards me. Meanwhile, I lost the last of my upwards momentum, and started falling to the ground. Realising something, I readied my weapon and braced for impact.

As I fell past Bahamut, I lashed out with my sword. It connected with the dragon's wing. The impact nearly ripped my arm off, but I hung on, dragging the blade down through the dragon's wing. It roared in pain and anger, as I cut straight through the wing and fell below it. As I fell, I launched Flare after Flare at its injured wing, hoping to cripple it.

I succeeded.

Bahamut FURY roared in agony as its right wing buckled and folded in on itself, sending the massive dragon towards the ground. It _smashed _into the cityscape below, taking out more then one building before it stopped.

For my part, I grinned at my success. Then realized something. I was falling. _Fast. _Looking below me, I saw that I was about to hit the roof of one of the buildings neighboring the Angelwing. Quickly, I launched a Flare spell to weaken the roof, shut my eyes, and prayed that the world would be kind enough to knock me out.

It wasn't.

I went through the roof of the building, grunting in pain as I did so. Then I went through the floor of the top floor. And the 2nd floor and the 1st floor, before _slamming _into the floor of the buildings cellar.

Coughing, I slowly staggered to my feet. Gasping in shock as my mind registered what my body just went through, I nearly went into shock then and there. Coughing again and bring my hand up to my mouth, I saw that I was coughing blood. Had I had X-ray vision, I would of seen that most of my ribs were shattered, as well as my left shoulder and my collarbone. Staggering up the cellar stairs, I pushes my way through the rubble and out of the building, before collapsing in the street.

For a few moments, I concentrated on my breathing, before hearing a roar and a series of smashes and explosions. Looking in their direction, I saw Bahamut FURY smashing its way onto the street. Coughing again and spitting out a mouthful of blood, I managed to mutter: "That all you got? Huh?"

That seemed to really fuck him off, for he roared, flapped his now useless wings and charged down the street. Sighing, I looked down, and prepared to meet my maker.

Which is when I heard a battle cry from several people, as well as the distinct sound of spells impacting against Bahamut's flesh. The dragon roared in frustration, denied his kill.

"Don't you _DARE _die on us yet, Mister," said a voice, before a series of warm waves washed over me and healing most of my wounds, fusing my bones back together and fixing the gaping hole in my left lung. Standing and turning, I saw Shayna and Lizi standing there, hands outstretched from healing me. Spinning, I saw Robbie swing his huge sword in a spinning upwards motion, sending Bahamut flying a good 20 feet, before Harley and Nick came flying down from the sky and slammed the dragon into the dirt.

"Did you think we would let you have all the fun?" said Lizi, a powerful fire in her eyes. Decked out in what must have been what was left of her Paladin armor, a small chest piece, wrist pieces and a cape, once white but now dyed black and red. In her hand was a duel ended sword. As I watched, she twisted the handle with both hands, and the twin blades came free of each other.

"It's _our _turn now," she stated, before spinning the blades in her hands and charging into the battle. Looking at Shayna with a questioning look, she shrugged.

"Well, I guess you lot heard me," I said.

"Hell yea. We didn't realize just how hard we were pushing you. We're sorry. Well, I am, at least. Now, let us help you!" Shayna said, before shouldering her hammer and rushing forward to join in. Smiling, I spun my sword in my hand, and charged right back in.

As I ran forward, I watched as my friends tried to keep Bahamut from causing any more destruction. As I watched, the mighty dragon tried to rise into the air again, having healed its crippled wing, only for Robbie to appear above it and slam it back to the ground. Then, it tried to charge forwards at Tayla, Kathryn and Reece, all of whom were casting magic as if their life's depended on it, only for several arrows to appear in its body. Looking, I saw the source: Morgan, standing on a nearby rooftop, bow drawn, already readying her next arrow. The dragon, now clearly frustrated, gave a mighty roar, then flapped its wings, sending Robbie, Harley and Nick flying. Robbie went flying into a building, while Harley and Nick went skidding along the street. Then, the dragon began rising through the air, as the spikes on its wings began to glow. Skidding to a stop beside Tayla and Reece, I looked up.

"Well.. Shit," I said.

"What now?" asked Tayla, voice shifting in worry.

"I don't know, I'm making it up as I go along," I replied. Looking around, I searched for something, anything. Then, an idea came to me.

"Tayla. Do you think you can raise the street up so I can get to him?" I said, pointing at Bahamut FURY.

"Umm.. Maybe. I'll try," she replied.

"Good. Reece. Haste me. Now," I said. Reece nodded, then cast Haste on me. Instantly I felt lighter on my feet, and my mind was running a mile a minute. Sprinting forward, I began casting spells at the rising dragon. Suddenly, the street rippled, then several pillars of earth shot skyward. Jumping, I landed on the shortest one, then started jumping from pillar to pillar.

Soon, I had caught up with Bahamut. I threw a Flare at it to get its attention. It looked at me, wings crackling with energy.

"I'm right here, beastie. Come and get me," I said, smiling. Said beastie roared, and then smashed the pillar I was standing on a nanosecond after I jumped at him. I landed on the dragons outstretched arm and began running up it, launching Flare orbs at the dragons face as I ran. It roared in pain as I leapt from its arm, gripped my sword in both hands, and plunged it deep into the dragons chest. It roared again, this time the dragons voice failing as it slowly began falling to the ground.

For my part, I just hung on for dear life.

Bahamut FURY fell to the ground with a monstrous thud, defeated. I slowly opened my eyes and noticed that I was on the ground, I slowly stood up, standing on the defeated dragon's chest. Yanking my sword out of its chest, I hopped down from Bahamut, only to be crushed in a hug from about 6 people. Tayla, Robbie, Mathew, Charles, Kathryn and Lizi all rushed forward at the same time and nearly caved in my newly repaired lungs as they hugged me.

"Gah! Guys! I need to breath!" I managed to get out, pushing them off of me. Then, they all gave different reactions.

Tayla hit me over the head with the blunt end of her dagger and told me off for doing that.

Robbie clapped me on the back and gave me a high five.

Charles bumped knuckles with me.

Mathew and Kathryn crept backwards until I caught them. Kathryn gasped as I put forward a hand, then nearly purred when I messed up her hair. Then, I bumped knuckles with Mathew and nodded.

Then Lizi damn near tackled me over when she hugged me again.

"You _dare_ do anything as _stupid_ as taking on Bahamut by yourself again, I'll kill you," she said, clinging to me tightly.

All I said was: "Well, if I do, I most likely deserve to die anyway."

That got a laugh out of damn near everyone.

Then, as I turned around to look at Bahamut FURY, the dragon rolled over and slowly got to its feet.

"Oh, for the love -" I was cut off when the dragon opened its mouth.

"_I am Bahamut FURY, the greatest of the Sire Dragons. You have proved your worth, Black Mage. Use my power wisely..."_

And with that, Bahamut FURY glowed, then faded into a crystal in the sharp of a fiery heart, which then shot towards me and vanished into the mark on my arm. Touching my arm lightly, I smiled, before looking up at 14 shocked faces. Shrugging, I said:

"Now, can we get something to eat? I never managed to eat dinner."

A/N: Hahaha, that was fun, no? Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Hello one and all! I have hit a snag with After the End, and thus to distract you, here is a chapter for Pilgrims! In this chapter: The one thing that RPG's never cover; the morning after the epic battle with the mighty dragon. Also, murderous White Mages. Enjoy! :D

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy. There, I fucking said it.

Chapter 11: The Morning After.

Now, the thing about Cure spells: They don't cover the bruises that popped up the morning after the epic battle that one was healed during. And _man_, am I learning that at the moment. I woke up and rolled over, and felt the urge to scream in pain. Slowly, I sat up, which also caused large amounts of pain.

"Jesus, that is _sore_," I moaned, slowly dragging my protesting body from my bed and collecting my various pieces of clothing.

A few minutes later, I slowly made my way down the stairs to find the bar deserted except for the exceptions of Lizi, her father, Shayna and Tayla.

"Hello, Mr Hero," Tayla said, somewhat teasingly.

"Oh shut it," I grumbled, sitting down beside Lizi, who instantly placed a mug of the devils drink, coffee, in front of me. Slowly, I reached out and gripped the cup. Even that hurt.

"How you feeling?" Tayla asked, smirking at me and my pain-filled movements.

"How about I throw you through 4 walls and see how you feel?" I snapped, not in the mood for smart-asses. Tayla kept smirking.

"Do it then," she challenged, smirk reaching her ears. My eyes flashed.

* * *

"Was that _really_ needed?" asked Lizi, standing beside me and observing the damage.

"Well she knew what would happen," I said simply, shrugging.

"But still. You should be glad that that building was gonna be knocked down anyway," she continued, looking at the Tayla shaped hole in the building across the road from the Angelwing. Shayna stood nearby, healing Tayla's somewhat beaten body.

"She's lucky that I picked a building that didn't have tiled walls. Those fucking hurt," I said, huffing.

"Still. You shouldn't have done that. Next time, _try_ to resist the urge," Lizi said, looking over her shoulder and seeing her father walking up slowly.

"So, your anger isn't just restricted to your enemies," he said. He was looking better every hour. His eyes, the same wine red colour that Lizi's were, were lit with a firey light, and he had a bushy beard, the same gray that his hair was.

"My definition of friend and enemy is never fixed," I replied.

"Huh. Good to know. Lizi. Came out to tell you that I can take over the bar for the day," he said, turning to his daughter.

"But Dad-" she was cut off by a wave of a hand.

"No buts. Have a day off. That's a order," he said, smiling, before turning and returning to the bar.

"Good to know you listen to _someone_," I said, earning a smack to my left shoulder, which, in turn, sent a sharp jolt of pain down my arm.

"Ow. Uncalled for," I said, gripping my shoulder.

"That's what you get for assuming that I listen to anyone," Lizi said, smiling her evil smile. I was about to reply, when a hard something whacked me over the head, making me see stars and dropping me to the ground.

"How could you do that to your friend?" said Shayna, bringing her hammer down again, this time on my shoulder, rebreaking it. Screaming, I tried to roll away from the attacking female, only for her to stomp on my back and smash my shin-bone with her death hammer.

"AHHH! This is unnecessary!" I screamed.

"Then say sorry!" Shayna said, pressing her foot into my back a little harder for emphasis.

"Ahh! I'm sorry I'm sorry!" I managed to get out without screaming.

"Promise me you won't do it again," Shayna demanded.

"I won't do it again, I swear! Now for the love of God, HEAL ME!"

"Ok ok..." Stepping off me, Shayna quickly healed me, making sure it hurt a lot. Standing up slowly, I shot Shayna and Tayla, who had stood up to watch my suffering, a evil look, before shuffling my way back inside the bar, leaning on Lizi every once in a while.

* * *

I was helping Lizi with the lunch rush, when Mathew, Robbie and the others return to the bar.

"Well?" said Lizi, looking up from the glass she was cleaning and ignoring the dirty looks her father was shooting her. Once me and Lizi had reentered the bar after my torture at the hands of Shayna, she had sat her father down and forced him to stay put for the rest of the day.

"We've got 2 days to leave," said Mathew, bluntly.

"What?" Me, Tayla, Shayna and Lizi blurted out, shocked.

"Apparently, we brought destruction to this city, and the king has given us our marching orders," Mathew continued.

"And, get this, if we are still in the city by sunset tomorrow, we become fair game to the city guard," said Robbie, evidently pissed.

"We didn't even get a word in," said Kathryn. Sighing, I rubbed my forehead.

"Aside from everything else, the king was a nice guy," said Amylee, smiling.

"And what makes you say that?" said Harley, leaning against a nearby wall.

"Because he gave me shinys!" Amylee replied in a high, childish voice. Untying a poach from her belt, she opened it and showed everyone the contents. Inside, in all its shiny glory, was what looked like about 10000 gil.

"Holy turkey shagging shit, Amylee! Why did he give you that?" I exclaimed.

"I just said to him; 'mr King sir, can we have some money to help us get some supplies?' And he gave me the poach," Amylee explained, still in her childish voice. I just stared at her in shock, completely speechless. Almost everyone else was of a similar opinion. Lizi, however, was not as shocked.

"The king may be an ass, but he is a kind person at heart. He wouldn't want us to be sent off with nothing," she said. I nodded, then processed what she had said fully.

"Wait. Who said anything about 'we'?" I said, turning and looking at Lizi.

"I'm going with you." It wasn't a question, and I didn't take it as such.

"No. You are staying here."

"Why should I? I'm as old as you are, and almost as tough! I've proved that, haven't I?"

"You have a recovering father to take care of. What happens if something happens to him?"

"I may be a old man, but I'm not dying anytime soon, Josh," Lizi's father said.

"Yea! See? I don't wanna be stuck in this bar my whole life! I wanna see the world!"

"And who put it in your head that it would be a good idea that you follow me- _us _around?"

"I did," Tayla said softly. I spun, already plotting her murder, when she continued. "Josh, quite honestly, we can't control you and your many issues with life in general. But, Lizi seems to at least keep you calm. So, its either she comes, or you stay. Cause we don't need you trying to kill everything that mildly _looks _at you weird." I looked at her, then everyone else, wondering just how evil they all were. Then, I turned and found myself facing down the most evil, vile thing imagineable. The puppy eyes. More importantly, Lizi's wine red puppy eyes.

"Please Josh?" she begged.

I sighed, and turned to answer...

A/N: Ooooh, cliffhanger! Anyway, rate & review. go on, you know you want to :D


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: HAI. I have nothing much to say here, so... Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final fantasy. Wish I did, but I don't.

Chapter 12: Wait, What?

We walked away from the city of Alexandria the next morning, leaving at first light (much to many of our number's displeasure). Personally, I was glad to be back on the move, and out of that city, but something was bothering me.

Namely, the fact that Lizi was walking next to me. After being emotionally and logically tag teamed by her and Tayla, I really didn't have much choice other then to let her come along. And thus, our little group grew to 15 members. All I knew, was that it meant another person to keep a eye on.

"So, where we headed?" asked Robbie, running up beside me, Mathew not far behind him.

"Ask her," I said, nodding my head at Lizi, which caused my hat to fall off the top of my head. Sighing, I grabbed the hat and repositioned it so the sun was out of my eyes.

"Well..." reaching into her traveling jacket, Lizi pulled out a map. "We are here." She pointed at the map, finger resting on a area just east of Alexandria. "We are heading this way, to Luca." She pointed again, this time at a dot on the map. Between where were we are it, there was a mountain range, a swamp and what looked like some plains. "We are gonna go this way." she then traced a path with her finger, one that I noticed complete bypassed the mountains and plains.

"Why don't we just go straight through?" I asked. Lizi looked at me funny.

"Because those mountains are home to dragons and all sorts of nasties, and those plains... Lets just say, those Behemoths that you see around here? Those things are ants compared to some of the beasties in that area," she replied, putting away the map.

"Ok. That seems like a good enough reason to me," I said. Mathew and Robbie readily nodded.

"So... How long will it take for us to get there?" asked Mathew, dusting something off of his hat.

"About two weeks," replied Lizi, smiling. Our jaws dropped.

"_What?_" we collectively shouted.

"No need to shout in unison. The map isn't very good at showing distance, ok?" Lizi said, rubbing her forehead. I sighed. This was gonna be a _long_ two weeks. Just then, I was snapped out of my thoughts by a rumbling... A very familiar, and for some reason scary, rumbling.

"Guys..." I said, turning around to see the others bolting past me, eyes wide in fear. Blinking, I looked at Lizi, who also blinked, then we looked in the direction from which they were running. And there, stampeding towards us, head down, eyes furious, was a Behemoth. I looked at Lizi. She looked at me.

"RUN!" We both screamed, turning on the stop and running full tilt in the direction that the others had run in.

* * *

"Jesus Robbie, what did you do this time?" I yelled, not trusting myself to look behind me and see if the Behemoth was catching up.

"I did nothing! I swear!" the blond yelled back.

"Well, why is that thing chasing us like we pissed it off then?" I shot back.

"I dunno! Maybe it just doesn't like us!" Robbie suggested.

"What you do mean by that?"

"It's the one I thought was a deer!" My eye twitched.

"God damnit! I knew I should of fucking tripped you up last time! Reece! Slow the thing down! NOW!" I yelled at our resident Time Mage. I nearly tripped over, then looked behind us to see the Behemoth slowing down.

"Good job Reece!" I shouted at him, running up beside him.

"I did nothing... But ok, thanks," he said, looking confused.

"Then... Why are we still alive?" asked Tayla, who walked up to us, confusion all over her face.

"Hmmm..." Looking around, I noticed what looked like the remains of a pillar on the ground. Looking more, I saw what appeared to be what was left of a stone temple, evidently forgotten many years ago.

"Maybe it didn't want to come into the ruins..." I pondered.

"Could be. Why, though?" said Tayla.

"Well, whatever the reason, we just found our camp for the night. We can't move until we're sure the Behemoth is gone," I said, looking around for said rampaging monster.

* * *

By the time it was dark, we were sure that the Behemoth had either left, or fallen asleep. We, well I, lit a fire, Robbie and Morgan went and found a wild boar and turned it into dinner, and I sat away from the group, watching the light of the fire reflect through my crystal.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Tayla, appearing at my shoulder and looking at the crystal as well.

"Is that Bahamut's crystal?" said Lizi, appearing at my other shoulder.

"Yeap. And the way it reflects light is... Cool," I replied, not thinking of a better word. Tayla smiled, said something along the lines of "that's nice", then disappeared again, leaving a mysteriously blushing Lizi behind. I looked at her, and then patted next to me. She blinked for a moment, and then sat beside me. Pulling back my sleeve, I held the crystal to the brand on my arm, then watched as the crystal faded into it.

"Cool," Lizi muttered softly. I looked up at her, shaking the sleeve of my jacket down. She had ditched the travelling coat and revealed what she was wearing underneath: a red shirt, black jacket that was currently done up, some loose black pants and a pair of red and black boots. All in all, she looked good.

"Thanks," I replied, suddenly feeling awkward. Looking around, I saw Tayla and Kathryn giggling. I felt the sudden urge to set them both on fire, which Lizi must have sensed, for she put a hand on my rising arm gently.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"I know anger when I see it," she replied simply.

"Yea! And, you must admit, it feels nice to have a chick touch you, right?" said Reece, demonstrating his talent of saying the worse thing at the worse time. I twitched, there was an explosion, and Reece was given a flying lesson that ended with him crashing through the wall of the ruined temple.

"Why didn't you stop me that time?" I asked.

"It was funnier not to," Lizi replied, evidently trying to not laugh, and failing. I started to laugh as well, when Reece came back out of the hole he had created and went to find Shayna for healing. I kept laughing, and then stopped when I noticed a strange glowing coming from within the temple. I was about to stand and look, when Lizi stopped me.

"No. Get some sleep, and then we'll look in the morning. Go, I'll take first watch," she said sternly. I nodded, then slid off the rock we were sitting on, sat down with my back leaning against it, then closed my eyes and went to sleep.


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: woot woot, filler chapter. Yeah, nothing much happens. Just, you know, the appearance of the major villains of this story. Aside from that, nothing. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: Yeah I think you get it already.

Chapter 13: Yet More Destiny Type Stuff... And Bad Guys

"Ok. 1... 2.. 3, PULL!" on that, me, Robbie, Mathew, Sam, Lathen and Kyle all pulled at a giant stone door. Besides us, Nick, Reece, Harley and the girls were all doing the same to the second door. We had been trying to pull the doors open all morning, and I was about over it.

"Oh enough! Everyone, get the fuck away from the door," I growled, rubbing my hands, already crackling with magic, together. The others very quickly backed up.

"Hmm... Ok.. Flare? Fire? Maybe Break?" I muttered, flicking through my ever growing mental list of spells.

"For the love of god, just blow the damn door," said Mathew, who was getting impatient. I rolled my eyes. Just ruin my moment, why don'tcha? Anyway, with a flick of my wrist, and a hat adjustment, the door was introduced to my dear friend, Flare. As the dust cleared (which I helped along with an Aero spell) I walked forward, dusted my jacket sleeves, and looked inside the temple.

And felt my jaw drop.

In a word, it was magnificent. The floor, the walls, hell, even the ceiling, they were all covered in gold markings, writing in some ancient language. There were pillars, which were also covered in markings, holding up the ceiling. Overall, the place had a very mystical vibe.

Oh, and, at the other end of the temple, hovering about a golden altar, was a shining blue crystal.

"My gods, a Cosmos Crystal..." muttered Lizi, a hand over her heart.

"A what?" Robbie asked, walking up to look around with me.

"A Cosmos Crystal. According to legend, they are symbols of Cosmos's power in this realm. They keep the world in balance, keeping in check the forces of Chaos," Lizi explained.

"And what would the forces of Chaos look like?" I asked.

"_You shall soon find out_" said a voice, full of wisdom and age. It was quiet, and yet managed to make the temple vibrate.

"Ummm, who said that?" I asked, slowly bringing my sword out of its sheath.

"_I did._" A pulse of light emitted from the crystal, lighting the whole temple. My eyes went wide. Black Magic, massive beast, talking crystals, what next, melodramatic pretty boys with over-sized swords? Then I remembered Robbie beside me, and mentally when "Never mind".

"_Welcome to my temple, Chosen Warriors. I've been waiting for you,_" the crystal said.

"Chosen Warriors?" I asked, looking at Lizi for an explanation. She shrugged and mouthed "I don't know."

"_Aye. The Chosen Warriors. The ones who shall defeat Chaos, and bring a new era of Order to this realm._"

"Wait, wait, WAIT. I am not taking orders from a floating rock!" said Robbie.

"I don't think we have a choice in the matter," Mathew said calmly.

"_You do. But if you do not follow the path before you, this world shall suffer for eons to come._

"Ok. So, we don't have a choice," stated Mathew. We may not have the greatest of morals, but we aren't heartless. Well, most of us aren't. I'm still trying to get used to this whole 'caring' thing.

"Ok. So, what do we do?" I asked, looking at the crystal.

"_My time runs short. Chaos's forces are near. You shall continue onward to the city of Luca. There, you shall find the Templar's of Cosmos. They will help you._"

"Ok, that's simple. I like simple," said Robbie.

"Yea. Thank you giant floatin-" I was cut off as a massive explosion rocked the temple and kicked up a massive amount of dust. Once the dust had cleared, we looked around and made sure everyone was alright, and then looked back at the crystal.

It had been shattered.

In its place, was a figure wearing the heaviest set of armor I had ever seen, holding a massive sword thing, a Red Mage with a black cape and a black rapier similar to Mathews.

And a Cataur, bouncing up and down like the weirdest bouncy ball in history.

"What did you do to the Crystal?" shouted Lizi, drawing her duel blades and pointing them at the newcomers.

"Simple. We smashed it," said the armored stranger, slamming the point of his sword, if it was one, into a shard of the crystal, breaking it further.

"Why?" I said, drawing my sword and calling forth a Flare orb.

"Because we are the Warriors of Chaos!" proclaimed the armored man. Right about then, I clicked on the voice. I had thought it was familiar.

"Hayden!" I shouted, along with about ten others. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who recognized the voice.

"Sorry guys, but I _like _being evil! So much power! Hahaha!" crackled Hayden, from beneath his helm. Besides him, the Red Mage shook his head and muttered "Why am I stuck with him?...". I then clicked onto him as well.

"Jesse! Why are you a bad guy?" I asked, sword dropping for a moment.

"Because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Although, now that I'm stuck with this idiot..." said Jesse, pointing at Hayden, who had descended into the most evil laughing fit I had ever heard.

"I see your point... But you're still evil," I said, raising my sword again. Jesse just laughed.

"Like you could touch me. I'm waaaaay too strong for you," he said, just as Hayden finished his laughing fit.

"Right. Now, shall we make a evil speech?" he asked Jesse.

"No. Let's not. I fear you'll fuck that up too," Jesse replied.

"Whatever, Jakey!"

"Jesse."

"Whatever. Let's go." And with that, Hayden slammed his sword into the ground and created a portal of darkness. With a final crackle of evil laughter, he entered the portal. Jesse shrugged, picked up the cataur and followed. The portal closed a moment later.

"Well... That was interesting," said Mathew.

"Indeed," said Robbie.

"At least we know who we are up against," I said.

"Well, if you ask me, those two seem like the worse bad guys ever," said Lizi.

I hate to admit it, but she hit the nail on the head.


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: Wooo for backlogged chapters. Anywho, nothing much here. Enjoy.

DISCLAIM: Bleh, is 12:12AM. I am not writing this shit.

Chapter 15: Practise

_Clang. _Mine and Mathew's weapons collided with Robbie's claymore and longsword respectively, before we were both pushed back by him. Landing on my feet, I charged, and brought my sword upwards in a slashing motion. Robbie blocked it with his longsword, before swinging his claymore at me. I danced out of the way, then quickly jumped on the flat of the claymore, embedding it in the dirt and yanking it out of the Warrior's hand. Robbie didn't miss a beat, drawing a second longsword and slashing at me. I blocked, then ducked as Mathew swung his rapier at Robbies back. Robbie was too slow, and dropped his swords as the tip of the rapier dug into his shoulder.

"Oh shit. Sorry Robbie," said Mathew, quickly pulling his rapier out of our friend's shoulder and quickly healing the wound to the best of his abilities.

"Its ok man. I was a bit busy, that's all. Josh here is a nasty bastard with that sword of his," said Robbie, rolling his shoulder and grinning.

"I try," I said, running a hand through my hair.

"Go find Shayna. She's around camp somewhere. I'm not that great at healing, so go and get her to check it," said Mathew. Robbie nodded, collected his weapons and walked away. Me and Mathew looked at each other.

_CLANG._

* * *

"Wow. Those two are going at it _hard_," I said, flicking a stray bit of hair off of my face., watching as Josh flicked his sword upwards to block Mathew's rapier, which was about to cut his skull in two

"Yeah. They are always like that, Lizi. Although, I wish they would stop trying to cut off limbs," said Kathryn, standing beside me. We both watched as Josh and Mathew traded blows. Mathew was evidently the better swordsman. His swordsmanship was great, even for a Red Mage. His sword danced, every strike aimed at finishing his opponent. I was even more amazed by the fact that his rapier was about 5 feet long, and that he wielded it as if it was a feather.

So, when I looked at Josh, I was even more surprised by the skill difference. Mathew seemed to outclass Josh, whose own swordmanship seemed to be clunky, almost forced. After watching for a while, as Mathew slowly pushed Josh back onto the defence, I wondered why.

And then Josh started using magic. And suddenly his fighting style became a hell of a lot more effective. Every sword swing was followed by a blast of magic, which Mathew was forced to either block with his own magic or dodge. His own fighting style was not suited for magic use at all, while Josh's was _built_ around using it. Within 2 minutes, Josh had reclaimed the ground that he had lost. Then, with a blast of magic and a sword swing, Josh disarmed Mathew and pointed the tip of his blade at Mathew's throat.

"Yeah! Go Josh!" I called, clapping. Kathryn sighed, and then clapped along with me. Josh looked over at us, a confusing mixture of emotions on his face, before sheathing his magic sword and helping Mathew to his feet.

* * *

"Right. Everyone feel better after taking their tempers out on each other?" said Lathen, taking his gloves off and sitting beside Hannah in front of the campfire.

"Yeap. Also learned that Josh has a nature talent for killing things," said Robbie, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh shut up. You took me and Mathew on at the same time, and damn near won," I replied, writing words down in the dirt.

"Whatcha doing?" Robbie asked. "Cause I can't read that shit."

"Really? I can read it fine," I said, looking down at what I was writing, then blinked. It wasn't in English at all, but rather in a swilling series of symbols that just screamed "ancient".

"Hmmm... I've heard of this before. It's the language of the Black Mage's. You would be naturally able to read it, I guess," said Lizi, shifting over beside me. "What does it say?"

"I'm not sure..." I lied. It actually was a bit an argument with myself over the pros and cons of one Lizi. Lizi noticed me not looking at her, and smiled slyly.

Later on in the night, as the fire was dying, I was still awake, staring at the stars. Sighing, I sat up and nearly collided with Lizi.

"Um, why are you a) still awake, and b) over here?" I asked.

"Well... I wasn't tired, okay?" she replied, somewhat defensively. I clicked on.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Its just... I feel like I'm tagging along... You guys have all this destiny shit, and, well, I'm along for the ride," she said, voice turning sad.

"Hey. Cheer up..." Not knowing what else to do, I dropped the walls around my emotions and spoke the truth. "I'm glad you're here. I... I'm glad I've got someone who gets me." That got a smile out of her. I returned it, then jumped slightly when she wiggled right up close to me and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Ummm..." I wasn't sure how to react, but my suddenly free emotions did, and I found myself putting my arm around her shoulders. Lizi responded by cuddling close to me and sighing contently. Soon, I heard her snoring gently, and found myself falling asleep as well. Just before I fell into the black and sleep, I thought:

Man, this is gonna look bad tomorrow.

A/N: Short, sweet and a little bit of fluff. Not my best, but not my worst.


	16. Chapter 15

A/N: HELLO! Its a surprise, isn't it? I haven't posted sweet fuck all in the last 6 months, and thus was feeling guilty. Fear not, for this drought should end soon! I should soon have reliable internets, and thus will be posting more! Until thne, enjoy!

Chapter 15: What is With That Thing?

You know, I'm really getting sick of running from things trying to kill me. Even worse, I hate running from the same thing repeatedly.

Yes, Robbie had, somehow, managed to piss off that Behemoth again. I wasn't sure how, but I was woken up by Mathew flinging a Water spell at my face and yelling at me to run like hell.

Thus, I was now running for my life for the second time in two days, from the same creature. And it pissed me off.

"ROBBIE! If that thing doesn't kill you, I fucking will!" I shouted, resisting the urge to toast his skin with a Flare spell. For the moment, anyway.

"It wasn't me, I swear!" He shouted his reply, his speed increasing in response to my threat.

"Well, think of it this way, Josh; We're making record time!" Lizi said, running beside me.

"Yeah, well, I like not running for my life. Tayla! Put that thing in the ground!" I shouted at our resident Geomancer.

"Aye aye!" she replied, waving a hand at the charging Behemoth. The ground in front of it rippled, then opened up into a giant hole, which the Behemoth promptly ran into.

"Nice one," I said, slowing down to a walk and panting.

"Thank you," Tayla said happily. Lizi high fived her, then returned to my side as Robbie walked up to me. I glared at him.

"Hey, it wasn't me, I swear. Although, I was hunting for deer this morning and I may of accidently found it sleeping..." He said. I twitched. He ran for his life.

He didn't run fast enough.

* * *

Once Shayna had finished repairing the damage that I inflicted on Robbie, we continued on our merry way. Well, merry was a overstatement.

"This sucks. Ass," Reece said. I was tempted to agreed.

"Agreed. I'm already sick of running for my life every day," said Lathen.

"Well, think of it this way; Its a learning experience," said Morgan, shooting a arrow at a wolf that was looking at us hungrily.

"Learning experience my ass. This whole adventure has been near death experience after near death experience," said Sam, walking alongside Morgan. Again, tempted to agree.

"Oh stop complaining. We are here now, and I guess we're here to stay, so get used to it," said Hannah, her voice cold. I laughed at their expressions, then slowly stopped walking. Something had just occurred to me. How were we going to get home, if at all?

"Josh? You okay?" Lizi asked, looking concerned. Behind her, everyone else was looking at me, waiting. I shook my head.

"Its nothing. Lets keep moving," I said, smiling and starting off again. Listening to the different conversations happening behind me, and the now comforting presense of Lizi beside me, I thought that, even if we didn't get home, I was still with my friends.

* * *

Later that day, it rained. Hard. We looked for cover, and found a rock ledge that provided a fairly large amount of shelter. After lighting a fire and making sure that we hadn't lost anyone, I seperated off from the group and started keeping watch. Outwardly, I was calm, but inside I was screaming. I wanted to go home. To see my family again, no matter how much I disliked them. To live a normal life. All this internal conflict made me completely miss Lizi walking up and sitting down beside me, and so I nearly hit my head on the rock ledge when she spoke.

"You ok, Josh?" she said, looking at me. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, hoping that she would buy it. She didn't.

"Uhuh, and I'm the High Priestess of Cosmos. The truth, Josh," she said, looking at me sternly.

"Okay. I'm scared that I won't be able to go home," I said, truthfully. Lizi gave me the weirdest look.

"Josh. You'll get home, if you try hard. Anything's possible, if you try," she said, smiling. I returned the smile halfheartedly. She saw through it.

"I know you don't believe it, I know. But trust me, if you try hard enough, anything can happen," she said, her eyes gleaming. For some reason, that made me feel better.

"Josh. Catch." I shot my hand out and caught a kebarb. Looking up, I saw Robbie looking over at me. "You good man?"

I thought for a moment, looked at Lizi, then nodded.

"Yeah. I'm good."

* * *

Later that night, I was keeping watch, with Lizi's head resting on my shoulder. Sure, the girl made it hard to see anything on my left hand side, but having her there was comforting, never the less. At least, she was keeping me warm. At most, the way she was cuddling my arm was almost affectionate, and that warmed my heart a little. Then I stopped as I caught myself staring at her, then banged my head against the rock and looked around, doing my hourly count of our little group.

And blinked in surprise. Someone was missing. I recounted, made sure that I counted myself. Yeap, someone was missing. I checked who was there. Lathen and Hannah were curled up together, as were Amylee and Harley. Kyle and Shayna had fallen asleep holding hands, as had Sam and Morgan. Nick had fallen asleep with spear in hand, and Robbie was hugging his claymore in his sleep. Kathryn was alone, leaning aginst the wall- Wait, where was Mathew? I looked again, checking. Mathew had disappeared. Sighing, I tried to move Lizi so that she was resting against the rock behind us without waking her. I failed.

"Huh?.. Josh?.." she asked sleepily, opening a eye and looking at me.

"Mathew's vanished. I'm gonna go look for him," I relied, smiling ever so slightly. Lizi nodded, then sat up and drew one of her duel swords.

"I'll keep watch... Don't take too long," she said, inbetween yawns. I nodded, then started walking away from the rock ledge.

The thing about magic, is that it leaves traces. Not many people can see them, but I, for whatever reason (and most likely the same reason I can use a sword like I trained every day of my life), can. Some people think it would be fancy, like a sixth sense, but it isn't. Magical traces look all the world like glowing snail trails. Anyway, Mathew must of used a spell to generate a light for him, as I did with a Flare orb, because the trail was solid and unbroken, leading up the outcrop of rocks that we camped at. Following the trail, I quickly worked out that he was heading for the top, and climbed as fast as I could.

After scaling a rather dangerous set of rocks, I found myself standing in a flat area, surrounded by rocks jutting towards the sky. Then I jumped as a lightning flash lit up the sky, then sighed. The storm was back.

"Josh." I looked in the direction of the voice and found myself staring at Mathew, his figure lit up by a small Fire orb. Maybe it was just me, or the lighting, but his eyes seemed more... evil then they normally did. My brand chose this moment to burn slightly, causing me to hiss in pain and grip where it was. Mathew did not let this go unnoticed.

"You have a brand too?" he asked. I could only nod, then paused. Too? I looked up at him, puzzled.

"Yeah. I got one as well," Mathew said, holding up his left hand, which I saw was ungloved. The light wasn't the greatest, but then another lightning flash occurred, and I got a good look at his hand. On the back of it was a pattern of black and gold, forming a shape not unlike a shield. _Protection_said a voice at the back of my mind. My brand burned again, more intensely this time.

"I showed mine, now show yours," Mathew said, looking at me. I nodded, then yanked back my jacket sleeve and showed him my own chaotic brand. He flinched as he looked at it, as if in pain.

"What?" I managed to say, inbetween bursts of pain from my brand. My mind started playing tricks on me, with flashes of red blurring my vision.

"My brand just hurt," he said, looking at his brand, before returning his gaze to me. "And I would say that yours is hurting as well." I could only nod. I then gasped as a flash of red engulfed my vision, followed by a blurry vision of a beast, a demon with black angel's wings, ripping Mathew in half. Shaking my head, I blinked, then looked up.

And saw the point of Mathew's red raiper.

"Mathew... What the fuck?.." I managed to get out.

"You. You changed. Only for a moment, but you changed," he replied, his vocie shakey.

"I'm still me," I said, looking up at him. Then my brand burned again, driving me to my knees in pain.

"Prove it," was Mathew's cold reply. I looked at him, blood boiling with a overpowering rage, then laughed and replied.

"Fine then. Do what you think you should do. Kill me."

Nothing, then I saw his raiper shake. I continued.

"I won't fight back. I won't even move. _Kill__ me!_" my voice shifted in the last sentence, turning darker, more demonic. His raiper shook more, then slowly rose into the air. I grinned, then closed my eyes. I heard the sound of its edge cutting through the air...


End file.
